Letters to the editor

May 1, 2002
Motor carriers, owner-operators earn Dear Editor:To our partners in safety: United States motor carriers and owner-operators: The 2002 Winter Olympic

Motor carriers, owner-operators earn ‘gold’

Dear Editor:
To our partners in safety: United States motor carriers and owner-operators: The 2002 Winter Olympic Games came to a close with nationwide recognition bestowed on Salt Lake City for its safe, secure, and efficient transportation system during the Games. Your direct efforts behind the scenes contributed to these successes, and I extend my gratitude and appreciation.

In the months leading up to the Games, the Utah Trucking Association and the Salt Lake Organizing Committee held several widely attended outreach sessions in and around Salt Lake City to advise motor carriers where and when to expect increased volumes of Olympic-related traffic.

During these sessions, our FMCSA Utah Division Office and its partners at the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) and Utah Highway Patrol asked you to help by voluntarily avoiding the high-traffic corridors, scheduling delivery times around events, and routing through-traffic around Salt Lake City.

Post-Games assessment of the region's transportation system proved you understood the importance of these requests and took positive action. UDOT reports indicated that its ports of entry in northern Utah experienced significantly lower-than-average truck and bus traffic during the Games, while its southern ports of entry saw an increase during that same period. This was an indication that commercial vehicle traffic had been routed around Salt Lake City. The apparent safe and efficient movement of Olympic traffic exceeded the most optimistic projections.

While these actions, making traffic flow smoothly, may not have been readily apparent to spectators and athletes, your actions have not gone unnoticed. I congratulate you on your significant contributions resulting in a safe, secure, and efficient transportation system in support of the Olympics. These contributions culminated in moving tens of thousands of people without a single significant Olympic-related truck or bus crash during the 21-day period of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Thanks again! I look forward to continually working with you to further improve the safety, security, and efficiency of motor carrier transportation.
Joseph M Clapp, Administrator
United States Department of Transportation
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Canadian shipping document problem seen

Dear Editor:
This is in reference to a recent problem with the transportation of hazardous materials between Ontario, Canada, and New York state.

We are Bulk Carrier Services Inc of Las Vegas NV, operating in all 48 states and Canada. We have recently had a problem with United States law enforcement issuing citations to our driver regarding the elimination or omission of the required information on the Canadian Shipping Documents for Hazardous Materials (ie, nitric acid). Our driver was stopped and cited in New York for this omission when there is clearly a reciprocal agreement between the United States and Canada under Title 49, CFR 171.12a. In summary, it states that the United States will accept shipping documents that meet Canadian Transportation Ministry requirements.

I was wondering if any other carriers were having this problem, and if maybe you would want to address this issue in your magazine, in the slight chance that others would want to have this information?
Bill L Aubry
phone 702-648-9055
[email protected]